By Zak Doffman
Publication Date: 2026-01-25 12:17:00
Outlook has been “unusable.”
Photothek via Getty Images
At last there’s a fix. Millions of Outlook users been plagued with failed restarts and missing emails since Microsoft released its mandatory January security updates. Now the company has confirmed a new emergency update to put things right.
Microsoft was reasonably quick to admit that “Classic Outlook profiles with POP accounts and PSTs hang after Windows updates on January 13, 2026.” Also warning that there’s no fix, but more guidance would be coming soon.
This has been serious. Neowin reported that “Microsoft makes Outlook ‘completely unusable’ as Windows 11 25H2/24H2 update breaks it.” Those issues include “random hangs and freezes, unsaved email progresses, and more.”
Microsoft now says the issue is more specific. “Some applications became unresponsive or encountered unexpected errors when opening files from or saving files to…
